See fox in the henhouse in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "A metaphor referring to the fox as a predator that would prey on the chickens if given an opportunity to do so.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "foxes in the henhouse",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "foxes in henhouses",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "foxes in the henhouse",
"2": "foxes in henhouses"
},
"expansion": "fox in the henhouse (plural foxes in the henhouse or foxes in henhouses)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"fox"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
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"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
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"Terms with redundant transliterations",
"Entry maintenance"
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"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
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},
{
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"parents": [],
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},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Czech translations",
"parents": [],
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},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
"parents": [],
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},
{
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"name": "Terms with German translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
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"name": "Terms with Hungarian translations",
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{
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"name": "Terms with Italian translations",
"parents": [],
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},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Japanese translations",
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},
{
"kind": "other",
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"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
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"parents": [],
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},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Polish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1995 October 10, David L. Hill, “The Putsch to Enfeeble the Independent U.S. Inventor”, in Impact on U.S. Exporters of the New GATT Patent Accord: Hearing Before the […] House of Representatives […], published 1997, pages 76–7:",
"text": "While the Commissioner of Patents is normally expected to understand and to promote the patent system as a bulwark for promoting the U.S. economy, the current Commissioner is, in many ways, a fox in the henhouse, undertaking to destroy that which he was commissioned to protect and to strengthen.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust in which they will be harmful, damaging or detrimental for their own personal gain."
],
"id": "en-fox_in_the_henhouse-en-noun-RsEzz-0n",
"links": [
[
"position",
"position"
],
[
"trust",
"trust"
],
[
"harmful",
"harmful"
],
[
"damaging",
"damaging"
],
[
"detrimental",
"detrimental"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, figurative) Someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust in which they will be harmful, damaging or detrimental for their own personal gain."
],
"related": [
{
"word": "cock in the henhouse"
},
{
"word": "wolf guarding the sheep"
},
{
"word": "accident waiting to happen"
},
{
"word": "set the cat among the pigeons"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "fox guarding the henhouse"
}
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"idiomatic"
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "hǔrùyángqún",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "虎入羊群"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"note": "虎入羊羣 (hǔrùyángqún, literally “tiger in a flock of lambs”)",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "udělat kozla zahradníkem"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "pukki kaalimaan vartijana"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "kettu kanatarhassa"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "den Bock zum Gärtner machen"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "kecskére bízza a káposztát"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "volpe nel pollaio"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"note": "猫に鰹節 (ねこ に かつおぶし, neko ni katsuobushi, literally “cat in skipjack tuna”)",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust"
},
{
"code": "liv",
"lang": "Livonian",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "neiku lambõd sieggõ suž lastõd"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "sette bukken til å passe havresekken"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "lis w kurniku"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"tags": [
"Venezuela",
"masculine"
],
"word": "zamuro cuidando carne"
}
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-fox in the henhouse.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a5/En-au-fox_in_the_henhouse.ogg/En-au-fox_in_the_henhouse.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/En-au-fox_in_the_henhouse.ogg"
}
],
"word": "fox in the henhouse"
}
{
"etymology_text": "A metaphor referring to the fox as a predator that would prey on the chickens if given an opportunity to do so.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "foxes in the henhouse",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
},
{
"form": "foxes in henhouses",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "foxes in the henhouse",
"2": "foxes in henhouses"
},
"expansion": "fox in the henhouse (plural foxes in the henhouse or foxes in henhouses)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"hyphenation": [
"fox"
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"related": [
{
"word": "cock in the henhouse"
},
{
"word": "wolf guarding the sheep"
},
{
"word": "accident waiting to happen"
},
{
"word": "set the cat among the pigeons"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English idioms",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English nouns",
"English terms with quotations",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Mandarin terms with redundant transliterations",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Czech translations",
"Terms with Finnish translations",
"Terms with German translations",
"Terms with Hungarian translations",
"Terms with Italian translations",
"Terms with Japanese translations",
"Terms with Livonian translations",
"Terms with Mandarin translations",
"Terms with Norwegian Bokmål translations",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Spanish translations"
],
"examples": [
{
"ref": "1995 October 10, David L. Hill, “The Putsch to Enfeeble the Independent U.S. Inventor”, in Impact on U.S. Exporters of the New GATT Patent Accord: Hearing Before the […] House of Representatives […], published 1997, pages 76–7:",
"text": "While the Commissioner of Patents is normally expected to understand and to promote the patent system as a bulwark for promoting the U.S. economy, the current Commissioner is, in many ways, a fox in the henhouse, undertaking to destroy that which he was commissioned to protect and to strengthen.",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust in which they will be harmful, damaging or detrimental for their own personal gain."
],
"links": [
[
"position",
"position"
],
[
"trust",
"trust"
],
[
"harmful",
"harmful"
],
[
"damaging",
"damaging"
],
[
"detrimental",
"detrimental"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(idiomatic, figurative) Someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust in which they will be harmful, damaging or detrimental for their own personal gain."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively",
"idiomatic"
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "En-au-fox in the henhouse.ogg",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a5/En-au-fox_in_the_henhouse.ogg/En-au-fox_in_the_henhouse.ogg.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/En-au-fox_in_the_henhouse.ogg"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "fox guarding the henhouse"
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"roman": "hǔrùyángqún",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "虎入羊群"
},
{
"code": "cmn",
"lang": "Chinese Mandarin",
"note": "虎入羊羣 (hǔrùyángqún, literally “tiger in a flock of lambs”)",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust"
},
{
"code": "cs",
"lang": "Czech",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "udělat kozla zahradníkem"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "pukki kaalimaan vartijana"
},
{
"code": "fi",
"lang": "Finnish",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "kettu kanatarhassa"
},
{
"code": "de",
"lang": "German",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "den Bock zum Gärtner machen"
},
{
"code": "hu",
"lang": "Hungarian",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "kecskére bízza a káposztát"
},
{
"code": "it",
"lang": "Italian",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "volpe nel pollaio"
},
{
"code": "ja",
"lang": "Japanese",
"note": "猫に鰹節 (ねこ に かつおぶし, neko ni katsuobushi, literally “cat in skipjack tuna”)",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust"
},
{
"code": "liv",
"lang": "Livonian",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "neiku lambõd sieggõ suž lastõd"
},
{
"code": "nb",
"lang": "Norwegian Bokmål",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"word": "sette bukken til å passe havresekken"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"tags": [
"masculine"
],
"word": "lis w kurniku"
},
{
"code": "es",
"lang": "Spanish",
"sense": "someone untrustworthy placed in a position of trust",
"tags": [
"Venezuela",
"masculine"
],
"word": "zamuro cuidando carne"
}
],
"word": "fox in the henhouse"
}
Download raw JSONL data for fox in the henhouse meaning in English (4.8kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-11-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-10-02 using wiktextract (fbeafe8 and 7f03c9b). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
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